Dar es Salaam – A devastating week of road carnage has claimed 17 lives across Tanzania, with three separate fatal accidents between Sunday and Tuesday highlighting the country’s persistent struggle with road safety as families and communities grapple with preventable tragedies.
The latest tragedy struck on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, when five people died and one was injured in a head-on collision in Bukumbi village, Misungwi district, Mwanza region. The victims included four nuns from the Carmelite Missionary Sisters of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus from Kenya and Italy, along with their driver.
According to Mwanza Regional Police Commander Wilbroad Mutafungwa, the accident occurred when a Toyota Land Cruiser (registration T 852 DGP), owned by Bukumbi Girls Secondary School and carrying the religious sisters, collided head-on with a truck (registration T 541 DCH) and its trailer (registration T 835 DCJ), owned by Nyanza Construction Company.
“The car driver, without taking any precaution, moved from his side to the right side, where he met the truck,” Mutafungwa explained, highlighting yet another case of reckless driving contributing to Tanzania’s mounting road death toll.
Tuesday’s accident coincided with funeral services at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT), Kijitonyama Parish, for five members of one family who perished on Sunday while travelling from Tanga to Dar es Salaam.
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The deceased included Francis Elineema Kaggi, his daughters Janemary and Maria, his youngest son Joshua, and his brother Elineema Hamis Kaggi. The family patriarch is survived by his wife, Sophia Charles Makange, who serves as Deputy Head of Kisutu Secondary School in Dar es Salaam, and their daughter Michelle.
Sophia, who survived the Sunday crash, led mourners on Tuesday in bidding farewell to her loved ones.
These tragedies follow another devastating accident on September 11, when seven people, including four men and three women, were killed when their Probox vehicle (registration T 625 DYV) slammed into a stationary truck in Kongo Village, Rorya District.
The victims were returning from the Simba Day festival in Dar es Salaam to their home village of Utegi when they collided with a broken-down truck left on the road without warning signs.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan expressed her condolences on her X platform regarding Tuesday’s accident, stating she had received the tragic news with great sorrow and praying for the deceased to rest in peace while wishing a speedy recovery to the injured survivor.
She extended sympathies to the President of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), Bishop Wolfgang Pisa, the Carmelite Missionary Sisters community, all Catholic faithful, Mwanza Regional Commissioner Said Mtanda, and the families affected by this tragedy.
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These back-to-back tragedies underscore the broader road safety crisis plaguing Tanzania. While official government data reported over 1,300 road fatalities in 2023, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates the actual number could be as high as 10,000 annually.
This discrepancy highlights the challenge of accurately grasping the full extent of the problem. Police statistics for 2023 recorded 1,733 road crashes, a slight increase from 1,720 in 2022, with fatalities rising by 6.6 per cent to 1,647.
A significant portion of these accidents is attributed to human error. Reckless driving, for instance, accounted for a staggering 73.7 per cent of all accidents resulting from human errors between January and December 2024.
President Samia has repeatedly called for enhanced strategies to prevent accidents caused by negligence, highlighting the urgency of the situation. The statistics paint a grim picture, with 97 per cent of the 1,735 accidents recorded in 2024 being caused by human errors, leading to 1,715 deaths and 2,719 injuries.
In response to the escalating crisis, the Tanzanian government has launched several initiatives aimed at improving road safety. In August 2024, Vice-President Dr Philip Mpango unveiled a new three-year Road Safety Plan.
READ MORE: Tanzania’s Roads Are a Metaphor for Its People’s Daily Lives
This plan, developed in collaboration with the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), integrates improved road design, inspection systems, and iRAP certification to enhance the safety of the country’s roads.
The plan is aligned with the Safe System Approach and includes measures to identify and upgrade hazardous road locations, improve speed management, and address dangerous behaviours like drunk and unlicensed driving.
President Samia has also been a vocal advocate for stricter enforcement of traffic laws. She has directed the Police Force to implement a system for deducting points from the driving licenses of those who commit traffic offences, in order to create a more robust system than the current one, which often relies on fines alone.
Experts and studies suggest a multifaceted approach to effectively curb the problem. The WHO emphasises the importance of improving road safety, efficient law enforcement, and emergency medicine.
Pre-hospital care is particularly crucial in saving lives. In this regard, organisations like the Polish Centre for International Aid (PCPM) have been working to improve emergency medical services in Tanzania, training healthcare professionals and equipping hospitals.
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The new three-year Road Safety Plan, with its focus on infrastructure and the Safe System approach, represents a significant step forward. However, the recent spate of accidents demonstrates that its success will depend on urgent implementation and sustained political will.
